Tag Archives: pandemic

Virginia: Don’t Go To ER If You Have Mild Symptoms

The Hill reports: Virginia public health leaders urged residents with mild or asymptomatic COVID-19 cases to avoid making emergency hospital visits as the state sees a surge of coronavirus infections. The Virginia Department of Health and Virginia Hospital and Healthcare Association said that people who have asymptomatic or mild COVID-19 cases or other nonserious illnesses often can recover at home …

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US Shatters Daily Record With 488,000 New Cases

The New York Times reports: With a caseload nearly twice that of the worst single days of last winter, the United States shattered its record for new daily coronavirus cases, a milestone that may still fall short of describing the true toll of the Delta and Omicron variants because testing has slowed over the holidays. As a second year of …

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Paris Gets Outdoors Mask Mandate Amid “Tidal Wave”

France 24 reports: Wearing masks even outdoors will be mandatory in Paris starting on Friday, French authorities have announced, as the country struggles to come to grips with an Omicron surge. France is leading Europe in new infections, with a record 208,000 new cases confirmed over the previous 24 hours on Wednesday. That figure was preceded by a previous daily …

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Florida Breaks Its All-Time Daily Record For New Cases

The Miami Herald reports: Florida reported 46,923 new COVID cases, the largest single-day increase of COVID cases since the pandemic began and nearly double the previous peak during the summer, when the deadly delta variant was surging, according to Wednesday’s report to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, based on Miami Herald calculations of CDC data. South Florida is …

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COVID Death Rate Rising For Middle-Aged Whites

The New York Times reports: The higher vaccination rate for older people has helped to protect them. Although more older than younger people still die from Covid-19, the virus is now responsible for a smaller share of all deaths among people 65 and older than it was before vaccines became available to all adults. For those younger than 65, Covid-19 …

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Texas Runs Out Of Monoclonal Antibodies Treatment

USA Today reports: Texas has run out of its supply of monoclonal antibodies, and infusion centers in the state will be unable to offer the treatment until more shipments are sent out in January. Infusion centers in Austin, El Paso, Fort Worth, San Antonio and The Woodlands have all gone through their supply of sotrovimab, the only antibody treatment believed …

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Pediatric COVID Hospitalizations Up 400% In NYC

New York City’s ABC News affiliate reports: New York State reported a “striking increase” in new hospital admissions for children as pediatric COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations in the U.S. continue to rise week after week. The New York State Department of Health said the recent fourfold increase in admissions that began the week of December 5 is concentrated in New …

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CDC Shortens COVID Isolation Period To Five Days

The Associated Press reports: U.S. health officials on Monday cut isolation restrictions for Americans who catch the coronavirus from 10 to five days, and similarly shortened the time that close contacts need to quarantine. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention officials said the guidance is in keeping with growing evidence that people with the coronavirus are most infectious in the …

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Study: COVID Can Remain In Body For Up To 8 Months

The Washington Post reports: The coronavirus spreads rapidly to multiple organs and can remain in the body for as long as 230 days after infection, according to a study by researchers at the National Institutes of Health and the University of Maryland. Upon infection, the coronavirus “disseminates across the human body and brain early in infection at high levels,” researchers …

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Britain Breaks All-Time Record For New COVID Cases

Sky News reports: The UK has recorded 122,186 new cases of coronavirus and a further 137 deaths, the latest daily figures show. It is the highest number of new infections reported since the beginning of the pandemic. Yesterday there were 119,789 cases and 147 fatalities within 28 days of a positive test recorded. Head of the UKHSA, Dr Jenny Harries, …

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62% Of Unvaxxed Say They Will Never Get The Shot

From a new Economist/YouGov poll: Respondents were asked to describe their vaccination status, and 31 percent said that “I have NOT received ANY shots of ANY manufacturer’s COVID-19 vaccine,” while 69 percent said they’d gotten at least one shot. Of those who have gotten the vaccine, 92 percent have gotten either two doses (43%) or have also gotten a third …

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3000+ Flights Canceled Worldwide Due To COVID Surge

The Washington Post reports: Thousands of Christmastime flights have been canceled around the world as airlines say the fast-spreading omicron variant of the coronavirus is preventing staffers from working. More than 3,000 flights were canceled globally for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, according to the website FlightAware, while another 2,000 flights were scrapped on Thursday. FlightAware said more than 20 …

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Scientists: COVID Is Moving From Pandemic To Endemic

NBC News reports: “Everyone has stopped talking about getting rid of Covid,” Dr. Elizabeth Halloran, an epidemiologist at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, said of her fellow researchers. “It’s not going away, and that means it’s going to be endemic.” Most scientists now expect the virus to circulate indefinitely with lower and more predictable case numbers — …

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TX Gov Taking Hands-Off Approach To COVID Surge

The Texas Tribune reports: In March, Abbott ended the statewide mask mandate, marking the beginning of a sharp shift toward preaching “personal responsibility” and an outright rejection of any government mandate — whether state or local — to curb the pandemic. That philosophy carried the state through the delta variant this fall, even as hospitals were overrun and deaths climbed. …

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New US COVID Cases Surpass Summer’s Delta Surge

The Washington Post reports: The United States logged a seven-day average coronavirus case count of 168,981 on Wednesday, amid a nationwide spike driven partly by the omicron variant, Washington Post figures show, surpassing a summer peak of just over 165,000 infections on Sept. 1. Even before omicron was detected, coronavirus-related hospitalizations were rising in the United States. About 46,000 people …

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German Health Minister: Fourth Vax Dose Necessary

Reuters reports: As Germany pushes out third shots amid a fourth wave of coronavirus infections, its health minister is looking toward a fourth shot against a fifth wave. Karl Lauterbach told reporters Wednesday that Germany has enough supply to meet its year-end goal of 30 million vaccinations. The government wants another 30 million by the end of January. “Personally, as …

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Data: US Life Expectancy Plummeted 1.8 Years In 2020

PBS NewsHour reports: COVID-19 helped erase 1.8 years from the average American’s life expectancy in 2020, according to the latest federal mortality data released Wednesday, marking the greatest change in the American lifespan since World War II. During that one brutal year, COVID-19 became the third-most common cause of death in the United States, with one out of 10 fatalities …

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Unvaxxed Texas Man Becomes First US Omicron Death

The Washington Post reports: An unvaccinated Houston-area man in his 50s is the first recorded fatality associated with the omicron variant in the Texas county — and may be the first U.S. death publicly attributed to it. The man, who tested positive for the omicron variant before his death, according to Harris County Public Health (HCPC), had previously been infected …

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Omicron Variant Now Makes Up 73% Of New US Cases

The Associated Press reports: Omicron has raced ahead of other variants and is now the dominant version of the coronavirus in the U.S., accounting for 73% of new infections last week, federal health officials said Monday. The CDC numbers showed nearly a six-fold increase in omicron’s share of infections in only one week. In much of the country, it’s even …

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NIH Director: One Million New Daily Cases Is Possible

NPR reports: After spending more than 12 years as director of the National Institutes of Health, Dr. Francis Collins is retiring this weekend. But he’s no less worried about the public health agency’s latest pandemic curveball. As the omicron variant threatens record-breaking rates of infections in the U.S., Collins departs with a warning. If Americans don’t take COVID-19 seriously, the …

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